Tuesday, February 17, 2009

setting expectations and 0 to 210 in 5 seconds...

"Enough about being overweight", you're thinking to yourself and I'm thinking that too, but there's just so much to talk about...

So, I'm watching one of a hundred health and doctor shows on TV and lo and behold they mention what Louie and Baloney both have mentioned...

"an effective method of losing weight

is simply using a smaller plate".

(THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK TO SIGNIFY BLANK STARE)

Um, what? So this is what I think... If I'm cooking "meals for four that two can eat" and serve it on salad plates this will not going to keep me from eating all of the food that I've prepared.

Really! Come on, if I can't keep myself from taking a second serving why in the world will a smaller plate keep me from taking a fifth serving? All that will do is compound my already existing self-esteem issues.

"Wow, I had five helpings... I'm not just fat, I'm a glutton..."

I will choose a good buffet over a regular restaurant for many reasons, but the fact that you can get away with leaving a smaller tip cannot be diminished... here is where the small plate theory really falls in its butt... how can I, in good conscience, leave a paltry tip for the wait staff when, during each of my 11 trips to the buffet table, they have removed my salad plate. While you might argue that the 11 trips to the buffet would be considerably more exercise than I get on a regular day I will have to counter that I will get in the habit of finding the closest booth to the trays...

...and where does this lead, this small plate diet???

It leads us into new habits that are worse than before. That day will come when I am at a buffet and have grown accustomed to making 11 trips or worse yet at a friend's for dinner and need five or six servings of food to be satisfied and what do I see at the setting but a standard 11" plate... HOLY COW! Then what?

Now you understand.

I'm sticking to my previous belief that the only real method of losing weight and keeping it off is to never have gained it in the first place.

...and for those who are really innovative you should serve dinner on an inverted bowl... the small portion would stay in the bowl's foot and the rest of the food would simply roll off the table and onto the floor - like someone's poor meatball...

I've also heard of the theory of the divided plate where you put your protein, good carbs, and not so good carbs in the little partitions. Personally, I'd put my not so good carbs in all 3 partitians and go back (maybe) for the green leafies and lean protein. Then I'd go back and put dessert in all 3 partitians.